To celebrate the centenary of its independence on 9 July 1816 (consequence of the May Revolution or Semana de Mayo in 1910), Argentina organized a tournament of 2 to 17 July 1916 with Chile, Uruguay and Brazil.
This Campeonato Sudamericano of Selecciones (South American Championship of Nations) is the first edition of what is now known as the “Copa América”.Given the success of the tournament, a member of the Federation Uruguayan Hector Gomez Rivadavia, proposed the creation of a confederation associations from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, and on July 9, the anniversary of the independence of Argentina, CONMEBOL was founded.
CONMEBOL : South American Confederation of Soccer (Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol) is the organization which includes, under the auspices of FIFA, the football federations of the South American continent; his headquarters is Luque Paraguay and CONMEBOL countries are : Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Hector Rivadavia Gomez was honorary president of CONMEBOL from 1920 to 1936.
From 1945, the competition then enters a period of great upheaval. The league is not played on a regular basis and many editions are called unofficial, not being considered official until much later by CONMEBOL.
New organization: the competition resumed in 1975 and is officially named “Copa América”. The tournament did not then host all matches are played throughout the year in each country. Nine teams participating in the group stage and the champion being directly qualified for the semi-finals. This system lasted until 1987.
The Copa America has no qualifiers. And because CONMEBOL is composed by 10 nations. Since 1993, two teams, usually from CONCACAF are invited to form the number 12.
Television, particularly in Europe and North America is interested in the Copa America in 1987 with a new organization of the tournament. The trophy, made of silver with a wooden base, was purchased at a jewelry store in Buenos Aires in 1917. It measures 75 cm high, 30cm in diameter, weighs 9 kg and it has cost, at the time 3000 Swiss francs.
He had winned 5 Copa America for Uruguay: Romano.A (1916-1917-1920-1924-1926).
They have winned 4 Copa America for Uruguay: Nasazzi.J (1923-1924-1926-1935) and Somma.P (1916-1917-1920-1923).
The first edition of the Copa America in 1910 is unofficial and has never been recognized by CONMEBOL, 3 matches were held and Argentina came out on top: May 29 : Chile – Uruguay (0-3), June 5 : Argentina-Chile (5-1) and June 12 : Argentina-Uruguay (4-1).
To celebrate the centenary of the Copa America, there was a special edition in 2016: Copa America Centenario. Organized Usa, she grouped the 10 teams from CONMEBOL 6 more teams from CONCACAF.
Copa America Winners
